Mr. Richard Muchili, 53, grew up in a family which practiced cotton and cereal farming for a living. After completing his teaching course in tertiary college, he tried several jobs but he was not successful. With nothing much to do, his father advised him to venture into farming and he has never looked back.
With his own savings, he started farming in Taveta and specialised in cereal farming majoring in beans. Muchili owns four acres where he farms beans, cotton and sunflower. During high season he harvests 10-12 bags of beans.
“I have mastered the art of farming using improved seeds, applying right amount of farmyard manure and monitoring the crops to guard against pests and diseases in order to ensure success during harvest time,” he says.
“I ventured into farming with prior knowledge that with enough water one can achieve a bountiful harvest. I did my own market survey and established that there is huge demand for quality cereals. With that in mind I embarked on fulltime farming. With the knowledge acquired from various agricultural training sessions I have the ability to successfully grow crops and manage my farm to productivity depending on the crop I desire to farm, “he further says.
“My goal is to expand the acreage but my biggest challenge is accessing reliable water for farming. I am anxiously waiting for CDA’s solar powered water distribution point which will bring to life our precious farms,” says Mr. Muchili. Farming has a lot of returns but once there is no reliable source of water then all farming input will go down the drain.
Mr. Muchili sells his produce to nearby markets and business men from Mombasa. The father-of-three takes pride in the fact that he has succeeded where many others have failed. His main challenge though is lack of water supply, though he remains optimistic that it will soon come to an end.
For farmers like Muchili, an unpredictable and changing climate means not only fewer crops to harvest, but also means having to find more money to pay for food. “When rains fail it affects our work and feeding the family becomes difficult,” he says.
The County of Taita-Taveta boasts of many natural water resources that could be efficiently utilised for irrigation to cushion farmers from droughts. Irrigation has a huge potential to mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture and increase farmers’ productivity. It is estimated that the crop yields on properly-irrigated land can double those from rain-fed and hand-irrigated land. However, “Not everyone can afford to irrigate and those small-scale farmers who do irrigate mainly depend on diesel to power their pumps, which makes it costly to operate in the long-term,” explains Mr. Leshampta, CDA’s Taveta County Representative.
Coast Development Authority aims to put an end to water scarcity for Taita-Taveta’s farmers through solar-powered water supply to farms. CDA has drilled two water boreholes at Nakuruto Location and Tuhire Location in Taveta, which will benefit over 600 households from solar Irrigation.
Solar irrigation has a long-lasting benefit on productivity, enabling farmers to increase the number of planting seasons, diversify their crops and enhance communities’ resilience to climate change. CDA will also conduct on-farm trainings to build their capacity in practical farming methodologies, pest control and impart knowledge of potential new crops.
